By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine said Wednesday that Russia’s restored railway to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, is a “legitimate military target” for its armed forces.
“It is clear that everything the enemy uses to strengthen its military capabilities is a legitimate military target for us,” Natalia Humeniuk, Ukraine's southern military command spokeswoman, told state news agency, Ukrinform, in response to a question about whether the railway could be a target.
During an address in Moscow’s Red Square late Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow restored a railway extending from Rostov-on-Don to Crimea via Ukrainian territories under its control, defining the route as an alternative to the Kerch Bridge.
Expressing that Ukraine is monitoring developments, Humeniuk said Russia is indirectly acknowledging it is "no longer confident" about the Kerch Bridge by announcing an alternative route and Moscow sees the bridge’s fate as “not very promising.”
She argued that the railway is an additional logistics route to supply Russian forces in Ukrainian territories under Moscow’s control.
"But the progress and speed of construction is not very high now, because there are obstacles in weather conditions, complicated supplies, and there are other objective and subjective reasons," added Humeniuk.
The Kerch Bridge, a pair of parallel bridges, one road and one railroad, is a key supply route for Russia which was built after Crimea was annexed in 2014.
The bridge has been targeted by Kyiv twice since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, in October 2022 and July 2023.